For a Manhattan couple, an industrial loft proves the ideal setting for an array of art and furnishings that spans centuries and continents

Living Area

Living Area

There are many reasons a New York-couple might want to move from the brownstone-lined streets of the Upper West Side to the funkier Flatiron district downtown, where converted industrial buildings rise above bustling shopping emporiums. To wit: A more central location. A profusion of loft spaces. Proximity to stylish Fifth Avenue.

It is the rare couple, however, that will move in pursuit of fresh vegetables.

For two men who purchased a floor-through apartment in the neighborhood seven years ago, a primary attraction was the year-round cornucopia at the nearby Union Square Greenmarket. One half of the pair is a high-profile figure in the art world, with access to some of the most important private collections around the globe. The other is a finance lawyer who has studied architecture and historic preservation, and who shares his partner's sophisticated tastes in art and design. Is it any surprise that they were seduced by the painterly pigments of tri-star strawberries, bicolor corn, and Tuscan kale only a few steps from their door?

Located on an upper floor of a former manufacturing building, the apartment was a structural blank canvas — a 30-by-85-foot loft with no interior columns — that proved an ideal backdrop for possessions. To help configure the space, the pair called upon their longtime friend Len Morgan, an architect and the co-owner of Cove Landing, a New York City antiques shop with a devoted following. (The store now operates by appointment and online.) "Completely open can be limiting," Morgan explains. "You need corners where you can sit on a rainy day."

In the living area of a Manhattan apartment designed by Len Morgan, an Axel Vervoordt sofa, a Philippe Starck chair, and an antique English stool surround a cocktail table by Philip and Kelvin LaVerne. The 1957 shelving unit is by Franco Albini, the painting is by George de Forest Brush, and the armchair is by Josef Frank; 18th--century Chinese stools serve as a cocktail table, and the rug is Indian. Produced by Anita Sarsidi; Photography by Mikkel Vang

Dining Area

Dining Area

To that end, the trio divided the apartment into north (the living and dining areas) and south (a sun-drenched bedroom and a plant-filled solarium) by building two floating parallel cabinets in the center of the space. They cannily hide the couple's wardrobe and provide art storage. "It's one unified space," says Morgan. "Anything that might be visually intrusive is off to the side." Evidence of the couple's discerning eye for color, pattern, and texture can be found in their intelligent and subtle collection of furnishings and art. No Warhols here, no Damien Hirsts. The American Expressionist Marsden Hartley might be the most famous name present. And there's not a Mies van der Rohe daybed in sight. Instead the hosts will proudly point out an elegantly asymmetrical walnut headboard by the underappreciated International Style architect William Lescaze.

Over the years, the homeowners have amassed a highly eclectic assortment of pieces, drawing from auction houses and galleries, as well as from Cove Landing's own stock of European antiques. "They have very definite ideas about what they're interested in and what they collect," Morgan says. "It was more a question of pulling their interests together than pulling things out of thin air and asking, What do you think of this?"

The couple showed a greater-than-the-average-client's interest in the process. The lawyer built a complete 1:8 scale model of the apartment, with miniature reproductions of furniture and artworks. His interest in English country homes influenced the open kitchen's deep-gray palette, inspired by a Scottish house he once visited. For the dining area they chose a long oak refectory table — so long that it had to be hoisted through the window.

An Ingo Maurer light fixture hangs above an English refectory table and custom-made benches in the dining area; the antique sculpture is Cambodian, and the 19th-century hall chair is English. The stools were originally designed by Gio Ponti and Gianfranco Frattini for Rome's Parco dei Principi Grand Hotel, the backsplash is stainless steel, and the countertop is Corian. Produced by Anita Sarsidi; Photography by Mikkel Vang